Fora

Just noticed today my front window is already cracked. Must just be Colorado driving with sanded roads. Car is not even 1 month old yet.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone had replaced their front window and if there was anything special I needed to tell the glass replacement company.

Bedankt!

Velo1 | 28 december 2012

I, too, live in CO (Evergreen), and cringe at that "whack" sound that often occurs when driving a day or two after a good snow fall. I will have my S in a few weeks and have been wondering the same thing as to whether or not anything special is needed whenever I need to replace my windshield.

I diligently get those small chips patched ASAP, which helps keep the windshield from cracking, but with the sand and gravel CO routinely uses on snowy roads, it is inevitable that I'll need a new windshield every year or two. Good thing I did order the paint armour to protect the body.

jat | 28 december 2012

By "front window", do you mean the windshield? If so, I thought that was the normal mark of someone in CO to have a cracked windshield :).

pilotSteve | 28 december 2012

Call Tesla ownership RIGHT AWAY before you schedule your own glass repair! Reason: I had my car in for some other due items and the service center said "oh, we found a crack in your windshield at the bottom near the wipers so we replaced it for you under warranty".

I think he said the robot assembly process can stress the glass. I would let Tesla see what they will do as it could well be you had a latent or hidden defect. :)

Scorch | 28 december 2012

Thanks, I will ask about the warranty possibility. Yes I meant windshield.

kelly | 28 december 2012

Sorry to hear about your windshield Scorch. Living in So. Cal. It's less of a concern, but still a concern. I got excited when I learned about a "windshield skin" (like body armour for the windshield), but sadly the curvature of the Model S windshield is to complex and they were unable to make it work. It's also a large windshield too, and I'm guessing they won't be cheap to replace. Good luck with it!

Brian H | 29 december 2012

When it's replaced, ask for a bigger EPass hole in it!

MichaelHMB | 29 december 2012

I had a windshield crack within the first couple weeks of delivery. Needless to say i was very concerned as i haddent hit anything and to the best of my knowledge nothing had hit me. I called support and the tech knew exactly where the crack was, lower right side, without me telling him. Tesla was very good about replacing right away at no cost

MrB | 1 januari 2013

Same this just happened to my Model S this afternoon. I was at a friends house and when I took him for a ride he noticed a 3 inch crack in the bottom of the windshield just right of center (barely visible from the driver seat)..

There is no visible impact on the outside, it looks like a stress fracture, so I guess I'm one of the unlucky few with this issue.

mlovely | 8 januari 2013

I noticed crack in my windshield today. Wasn't there when I left work (or at least I didn't notice it), but upon entering my garage saw a crack originating from the top just to the passenger side of the rear view mirror.

jgdds | 8 januari 2013

I too have had a crack develop on the driver side originating from the edge, not due to any object hitting it. The people at Tesla have been very nice every time I call, but have yet to call me back with any information. It has been over two weeks. Understand the holidays must be hectic, but really. My call to them tomorrow will not be as nice as the crack is progressing across the windshield.

Brian H | 8 januari 2013

cross-post:
Someone said this was standard on late-model premium cars, intended to break up sun reflections off the hood when it is at low angles to the horizon. Cracking is a flaw; the distortion is not?!

guppie | 12 januari 2013

I had my windshield crack overnight, right bottom extending to the right edge. As with other cases above there is no visible impact. It has been around freezing here in the Bay Area overnight so I'm guessing it is built-in stress pushed to the point of breaking by contraction from the cold. Hopefully Tesla agrees this should be covered by the warranty.

This is my first real issue. Otherwise the car has been behaving flawlessly over the first 1100 miles.

Mark2131@CA-US | 14 januari 2013

Caught a rock in the windshield last night. Tiny crack at impact point. Maybe I should wait for my lower right corner to crack before I try to fix it!!!

petero | 14 januari 2013

Mark2131. If I were you, I would have a auto glass shop plug and seal the crack ASAP. Little cracks have a way of becoming big cracks. It is not expensive $30-50 but could save you big bucks.

smd | 23 januari 2013

My passenger discovered my cracked windshield in the lower corner about 6 inches total. I called Tesla service and have an appointment for replacement under warranty.

Hogfighter | 23 januari 2013

There might be an issue regarding this. Way, way too many windshields have cracks.

Brian H | 23 januari 2013

Hogfighter;
what, 10-20 out of 3000? Half a percent?

Timo | 23 januari 2013

Half a percent is quite high when you talk about that large amount of cars. Elon talked in one of the videos how they could use SpaceX manufacturing methods to make variability between different cars really really tiny. I think half a percent failure for one rather impotant part of the vehicle in SpaceX would not go thru, so I guess they are not using SpaceX methods. Same thing with doors, too much variance between cars.

Del Mar | 26 januari 2013

Noticed exact same crack this morning in right lower corner on passenger side. Reverse L shaped. 9" long. It becomes more visible with direct light over head. Tesla service center acknowledged that they had heard of this problem. Has anyone had replaced yet?

Brian H | 26 januari 2013

Yes, it's a stress fracture, and several replacements under warranty have been reported.

jp158 | 26 januari 2013

WOW, Very interesting and a major concern!

Tesla needs to apply some attention to this, nothing worst and important as having a secure front windshield, and with the price of the car it's just not suppose to happen!

If that's happening this early in the release what else is going on!

pilotSteve | 26 januari 2013

My windshield was replaced the week after delivery when I left the car at the service center for a detail job. Service manager said he noticed the crack and replaced it for me.

So yes I think there is an assembly and/or vendor issue here. Not huge but significant. I do feel that Tesla is on this one as there has been no "push back" from service, they just replace the glass.

jjaeger | 26 januari 2013

Already noted and reported that they had to work on how the robots work with the windshields during production process. Am sure that they'll get it all ironed out. Costing them a little in the mean time, but not a major concern in my book.

skystream3.7 | 26 januari 2013

i have 2 cracks in my windshield lower right and upper left. Upper left was first

jbunn | 26 januari 2013

Was in the Seattle service center this last weekend. Saw several boxes of windshields from the factory. hmmmm

Robert22 | 26 januari 2013

Sounds like one half a percent is going to be low...

KevinR.co.us | 27 januari 2013

Had a crack this morning. 1/3 of the way up the windshield on the passenger side. Near as I can tell happened overnight parked in my garage. posted this on a separate thread (couldn't find this one)

Brian H | 27 januari 2013

BIG crack. Get it fixed fast. The windshield might split when travelling at high speed and decapitate everyone in the front seats.

Hogfighter | 28 januari 2013

@Brian H -

These are only the ones being reported on this forum. Like cockroaches, if there are several posted here, statistics would indicate that there are many more out there.

I had a crack on delivery, another on the same truck had one as well, same spot. Saw another in the store in November, same issue.

I'm curious if it's how the robots are assembling the windshields, or is it caused by torsion and stress of driving. One is an easy fix, the other not so much.